Tuesday, September 30, 2014

In order to repartition the MTK6582, all you need to do is refer back to the instructions written here, how to repartition MTK6572. The concept is identical, the only difference is that the MTK6582 has an EBR2, like a few other well known MTK devices. There are tutorials that you may have followed in a few forums, such as this one on XDA-Developers and a few others. The thing I noticed right away is that t MTK6582 is nothing more than an update of the MTK6572.

In terminal shell when you look at the EBR files, you will see something like, when entering in shell:

EBR2 is an extension of your internal storage's partition, so if you want to use all of your internal storage for app storage, all you need to do is change, in the scatter.txt, the section "is_download: for EBR2 from true to false, just like this:

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Part Two - Editing Scatter File and Increasing Phone/Tablet Speed

In the first tutorial you learned how to partition your EBR1 to increase your application data storage, in this section I will explain how to edit your MTK6572_Scatter.txt. If the EBR1 is repartitioned and loaded to the phone/tablet, the mod will work, with a few bugs. First off, certain application notifications will not work properly, secondly, the speed of the phone/tablet will decrease considerably. After editing the scatter file, you will notice, even before the repartition, a significant increase in the performance and speed of the phone/tablet.

NOTE: After taking a look at different partition schemes on different MTK6572 phone/tablet, found that the partitioning is not exact, after partitioning you have values hanging around, as stated in the last tutorial, you can either leave a decent amount of internal storage or format the remaining amount as ext4 so that the phone/tablet does not show it in a file manager or settings.

Here is a section of my own scatter file, notice the highlighted parts, these two numbers are what we need to modify.

partition_index: SYS17

partition_name: USRDATA

file_name: nvram.bin

is_download: true

type: NONE

linear_start_addr: 0x43F40000

physical_start_addr: 0x43940000

partition_size:0x20000000

region: EMMC_USER

storage: HW_STORAGE_EMMC

boundary_check: true

is_reserved: false

operation_type: UPDATE

reserve: 0x00

partition_index: SYS18

partition_name: FAT

file_name: NONE

is_download: false

type: NONE

linear_start_addr: 0x63F40000

physical_start_addr: 0x63940000

partition_size: 0x87040000

region: EMMC_USER

storage: HW_STORAGE_EMMC

boundary_check: true

is_reserved: false

operation_type: INVISIBLE

reserve: 0x00To get the decimal value for the usrdata/application partition, 0x20000000, it has to be converted to the decimal value, here is a website that will do the conversion if you do not have the appropriate calculator handy:

The decimal value is 536870912.

There are two ways to check and see if the value is correct, the first way is by checking in a terminal shell under Linux.

The value of Partition 2, 536870912 is the size of USRDATA, now lets do the same thing with the partition size for the FAT, 0x87040000, here is the link for the online hexadecimal to decimal calculator again, the decimal value is 2265186304. The second way to check both the two values for USRDATA and FAT partitions can also be done is SPFLASH Tools.

USRDATA & FAT PARTITIONS

Now lets add those two values together, you can do it in a Google search engine, here is one provided for you:536870912+2265186304

The two partitions added together lets you see that the total of your FAT and USRDATA is2802057216, but, before taking that value and converting it to a hexadecimal value, we need to subtract that little floating value that was left over from the partitioning. Lets go back into the terminal shell and take a look now at the new EBR1 file that was created in PART ONE:

Now for the FAT we need to find the floating value so that the partition size can be decreased. Although the phone/tablet is showing a one size as pictured, the actual size can correctly be shown by turning on USB storage and looking at it on the PC file manager. Since android does not read partitions the same as Linux or windows, we need to find the actual sizes to be able to configure the scatter text correctly.

In this case, my tablet'sreal value is 17mb, I needed to find the hex value of that number and change it in the FAT partition of the scatter text. There is no way of finding that actual value when looking in MTK Droid Tools, SPFLASH tools or using the disktype command in a terminal shell. What actually has to be done is you have to take the new partition size and subtract it from the old partition size.So now we know that, taking the USRDATA and FAT partitions and adding them together gave us 2802057216, now we need to subtract the new partition size from that, which you saw when typing sudo disktype 2.5gb-EBR1. Now in the below search engine you can subtract those two values:2802057216-2785017856

The new value now is 1703936 (17.03936mb), which has to now be converted to a hex value and replaced with the old FAT partition value. Here is the link again for that nifty online decimal to hexadecimal calculatorand there is the new value for the FAT partition, 0x10400000. Just a note, I had added one 0 to the end since the scatter file shows eight digits after the 0x for all hexadecimal values.When you load edited scatter file, make sure to backup the original, SPFlash tools may import all the partitions, there is no need to worry, just make sure to load the appropriatesections when flashing. If you downloaded a nandroid backup, I found it easier to flash everything except for my system, usrdata and cache. Those were reflashed in recovery using the custom clockwork mod that was created in MTK Droid Tools.

After repartitioning and reflashing, MTK Droid tools still reads the old partition schemes. Not really sure where it finds the values yet, working on finding that, possibly hardcoded somewhere in the tablets file system, and fixing itto read correctly, if possible.

The company where I purchased the tablet from had the actual kernel hidden on their download section with another EBR1 that worked when flashed. It increased my usrdata from 512mb to 1.27mb. What was really odd though is that when trying to repartition that EBR1, which nearly used every bit of the FAT partition up, except for about 3-4mb. The repartitioned 1.27gb EBR1 to 2.6gb would not load, just left the tablet frozen in the boot logo.So far have looked at three different MTK6572 partition schemes and cannot figure out how they makeup the values, there has to be some easy EBR tweaker that is used. Unless a bunch of underpaid, overworked nine year old laborors are actually sitting there manually repartitioning Android Tablet MBR/EBR.

Saturday, September 13, 2014

*** WARNING I WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE IF YOU BRICK YOU PHONE PERMANENTLY - PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK ***

How to get FTM mode on the ZTE Straighttalk/Tracfone wireless android phone.

StraightTalk/Tracfone FTM mode

Unlocking the ZTE Z990g to ZTE z990 is very easy, to make it even easier, have compiled and provided the files needed to unlock your phone for AT&T, click here to download the files. Unzip and place the image folder on your sdcard just the way it is:

image
- image.bin

After bricking my own phone, this was because I had flashed the wrong recovery before erasing the boot. This caused the phone to get stuck in the boot logo and was only able to pickup DFU mode. Straight Talk probably didn't want to lose customers by making it easy to unlock the bootloader and had ZTE lock it up. Now there is no support anywhere on the net for this phone, unless you are still a Straight Talk customer paying for the protection plan. That probably doesn't cover self maintenance much, just a trade in for something of equal value. Finding this hack is very helpful, in so many ways, once you unlock to AT&T, there is now a working bootloader, download mode and FTM mode.

After performing the ZTE update on-line tool, the phone sometimes goes into download mode. Pressing the power button will not always wake it back up. All that needs to be done is, take off the back cover, there is a reset switch to the right of the camera. Take a toothpick or something that will not damage your phone and press it inside the hole, it should boot right up. If this does not work, take the battery out replace it and hold the reset switch while plugging the phone into the PC then release.

First download Step One RAR file extract the image folder to your sdcard wit the image.bin inside the image folder, on the root of the SDCARD. Power down the phone then press home then volume-up then power, do not press at the same time but in that order. You will see the t flash update, if it takes awhile, that means it is working, if the update completes to soon, this means it did not work. A successful update will go from 1% to 100% twice.

Once that has successfully finished, your phone will power up, give it a few minutes to register. If you want to make sure it really worked, power down, then press volume down then power. The FTM screen should appear like the picture above.

Next download the Step Two RAR file and do the same, extract the image folder, just the way it is, the image folder with the image.bin, on the root of the sdcard.

Last setp, to complete the task, download this T-Flash update this will convert the ZTE Merit Z990G to a full functional ZTE Avail Z990.

Now to update to the latest firmware, is also needed if you want to completely Sim unlock the Merit/Avail, download the ZTE online update tool here and follow the instructions to update your firmware to version P736TV1.0.0B32.

Not sure if after performing the above method actually unlocks your ZTE Z990g to work with an AT&T sim card, did not try a card before performing the below method myself. You can always insert an AT&T sim card to see if it works, if you prefer using AT&T, the below method is really not necessary. The above method will convert your phone from Z990G to Z990, this I do know.

Sim unlocking the Merit/Avail to any carrier

First download QPST Tools, here is version 2.7.411, power down the phone, press volume down then power or volume down and connect to USB port, hold until you see FTM. Now open the software download tool, select the backup tab and backup your NVRAM. Once that is done you can download the unlock tool. Just finished successfully unlocking my converted Z990 from Z990g to work with any network. Here is this Unlock Tool, extract it and run the unlock tool while in FTM mode, enjoy your new unlocked ZTE Merit Z990G. You will need to now go back into QPST Tools Software Download, click on the restore tab and restore your NVRAM, this is because the unlock tool will delete some info and the WIFI will not connect.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Modding these tablets, turns out, is much easier then modding the models that have a MBR, EBR1 and EBR2. The models with just one EBR1 instead of two and three is actually very simple, for a simple cheap tablet. Now there is a way to take that $60 tablet and turn it into a $250 tablet.

This particular mod is so easy, it took me more than a month to figure it out. After trying all different Apps offered through Google Play Store and others located on XDA developers, nothing seemed to really work, especially for the MTK6572. After reading several articles about modding other MTK tablets, the last being about partitioning, something clicked.

Originally what had gotten the ball rolling was an MBR and EBR1 fie that I had come across on my manufactures website. Their MBR was identical with my tablets MBR, the EBR1 were different. Next, upon flashing the new MBR and EBR1 via SPFlash Tools, it had expanded my internal app storage storage from 512mb to 1.27gb, causing a decrease of my tablet storage from 2.11gb to 1.34gb. According to this read on XDA, the new discovered MBR/EBR1 was not technically possible, it should not have worked, but it did. From that tutorial, you need to edit your MBR along with your EBR1, in this tutorial, there is no need to play with the MBR, you just need to concentrate on the EBR1.

Next, tried all different math solutions, comparing the original EBR1 with the new EBR1. After reading about using partitioning tools, decided to see what would happen if I were to run some command line based partition tools in linux. That is when I discovered just how the partitions on the MTK6572 tablet works.

****WARNING I WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE IF YOU PERMANENTLY BRICK YOUR TABLET/PHONE***

After not having much luck using windows or Cygwin, it became apparent that using, what I could, in linux for a linux based tablet would probably go a long way.

MTKdroid tools from here and, it may or may not allow you to root, if not, then get Framaroot and try, read the tutorial on how to backup your tablet before beginning this mod, MTKdroid tools is what you will need to pull your MBR and EBR1, yes you will need windows, sucks.

Optional, also, very helpful, a good nandroid backup from the play store, a favorite of mine is nandroid backup this will not pull your EBR1 but is a lifesaver in case of a brick.

A Hex editor, some are, wxhexeditor, bless hex editor, jeex or Okteta, I'm using Okteta because it highlights the partitioned numbers making it easy to view.

Google search is a great tool for doing your math solutions, just punch in your numbers in the search bar.

A partition program to examine your mathematical solutions after you changed your EBR1, gdisk works fine, running the command disktype EBR1 and disktype MBR will give you a good understanding of what type of partitions you are working with. Note, DO NOT bother trying to repartition your EBR1 using a partition tool, it will not work. The partitioning program is going to want to modify your partitions to a recognizable partition, nand partitions are not the same and are not listed in these programs.

Lets inspect our MBR and EBR1, it's good to get familiar at what is being worked on. Now that you have pulled the MBR and EBR1 using MTKDroid Tools, open up a terminal shell, navigate to where the MBR and EBR1 files are and enter:

This gives you an idea of how far you can expand your storage, looking at the 2TIB makes you wonder, why would they create an MBR/EBR with a 2TIB capability but my internal storage is 4gb total and the tablet only supports up to 32gb? Well, I'm thinking that this is a versatile used partition scheme used on many different devices, it could also be a potential to increase your internal app storage way beyond 4gb + 32gb with other mods down the road. What we want to focus on at the moment is, how much can partition #2 be increased to install more apps.

Now lets get a look at what the partitions look like, again in terminal type:

What we want to concentrate on is resizing the second partition. For this mod to work, if you look closely, partition three starts one digit higher from where partition two ends. These are the two numbers that we need to increase but make sure that the end of partition two is one digit lower then the beginning of partition three, else, big ole fat BRICK!

Now open the EBR1 using a hex editing program, here is what you need to concentrate on:

For every 512mb we are going to add 10 to all three of those values separately, so if you want to increase your partition to 1.5gb, you will need to add 30 to each section. Lets do this in a Google search, enter your number 0x####+30, you can use the one provided below, mine would be 0x0010+30, yours may be different.

Here my value is 0x2E which the same as 0x002E, so now in the hex editor my 00 10 will become 00 2E, the 00 is going to be the same and the 10 is going to become 2E

The next set of number, C6 31 is going to become 0xC631, again in the search enter 0x####+30 (0xC631+30)

My new value has gone from C6 31 to C6 4F, the C6 has actually stayed the same just like before.

Now for the last two numbers, we are going to do the exact same thing, enter your formula below, ie. 39 CE will be entered as 0x39CE+30

Mine has now went from 39 CE to 39 EC.

Now save your editing under a different name, always keep your original, you can name it what ever you want, I will explain how you can select your new EBR1 without having to make any changes to your scatter.txt in SPFlash Tools, lets save it as 1.5gb-EBR1.

Now we are going to check the values in gdisk, open up terminal shell again and type:

gdisk 1.5gb-EBR1

Disk 1.5gb-EBR1: 2 sectors, 1024 bytes
Logical sector size: 512 bytes

Disk identifier (GUID): 42E75C31-9EF0-47FB-9C59-97DA9BE821CA
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 18446744073709551584
Partitions will be aligned on 512-sector boundaries
Total free space is 18446744069412095424 sectors (8.0 ZiB)

The new values are now higher, make sure, as mentioned earlier, that partition two's End Sector is one digit less then partition three's start sector. Also make sure that no other values have changed from your original EBR1.

Now the fun part, restarting and logging back into windows so that you can access SPFlash tools, yes I know it really sucks!

Fire up SPflash tools, make sure you have selected the correct scatter.txt. When flashing your new EBR1 you are going to need to reflash everything, the new EBR1 is going to erase everything on your phone, which is why a backup and a second backup is very important.

In SPFlash you will see to your right, the location of your original EBR1, click that box on the right as shown below:

A window is now going to open, select your new 1.5gb-EBR1 and flash away!

**NOTE** At the time, am working on a mod that will allow you to extend your storage that will extend to your SDCARD. Have not tried the theory yet, but think that if you extend your EBR1 beyond the total space of your phone storage, for example, if you have 2.5gb of extra phone storage and want to add another 2gb, think it may work using the int2ext mod as shown on some forums.

Downside to this mod, you will not be able to remove or if anything ever happens to your SDCard or your tablet may not boot up, will probably get stuck at the first logo. Another issue is that, this could potentially eat up your SDCard.

Another problem is that, in order for this mod to work, you will need to edit your vold.fstab and save it back to your tablet. Some tablets have the option to adb to your phone once it gets to the boot logo. If this is the case, after flashing the EBR1 you can plug the tablet into the USB port and adb pull /etc/vold.fstab, edit and adb push back.

If you are unable to adb shell at the boot logo, the only other option is to edit your system.img, save the vold.fstab and flash back along with your new EBR1. An easier way, after reflashing via SPFlash tools to recover the brick, as long as one did download, from the play store, a nandroid backup. The backup saves your system as a system.tar. Open the system.tar file, locate the vold.fstab in /etc/ edit it with an editor, repack to the tar. You could then flash the new EBR1, with all other backups in SPFlash tools, boot into recovery, then restore your tablet to the last settings using the nandroid backup.

As for the SDcard part to work, it may have to be formatted as fat32 or unallocated, this way the EBR1 will write the needed numbers to the area, bad news, you would have to figure out how to:

partition the sdcard off and get your vold.fstab to recognize the amount of leftover storage you want it to read as phone storage. The tablet may not recognize the remaining SDCARD storage as phone storage if formatted as unallocated. Also, the EBR1 may not be able to extend to storage that is already formatted as fat32, it works for the phone storage, just not sure about the SDCARD theory.

use the entire SDcard as extended app storage, then buy yourself one of those USB memory sticks, it can be plugged into the tablet's USB port and the other end into your PC's USB Port. Not sure how most of these tablets work with the USB stick method, probably is another vold.fstab issue.